This is a story about a rugged but simple life in one of the northernmost populated areas in the world; up in the frigid Northwestern Greenland.

Pentti Kronqvist is an Arctic explorer from Finland. He has made multiple exploration trips, starting in the 1970s, to the arctic areas, including Alaska, Northern Canada, and Greenland.

There has been a number of fascinating stories written about his adventures, mainly in Swedish and Finnish. Some of them have also been translated to English.

In the beginning of this story, Pentti and his two friends are on an expedition from the Thule base in Northern Greenland, travelling up north, across the Smith Sound, and down on the Canadian side to Grisefjord, a journey calculated to be 300-400 miles.

But a mishap on the first leg of the journey places them in the small village of Qaanaaq for a few days. There he becomes friends with a local hunter named Ilanguaq Duneq. There are many great stories to tell about Pentti’s adventures, but this story, one of the many gems in Pentti’s collection of stories, is about Ilanguaq, a well-known hunter and artist in the region.

But this story is not just about Ilanguaq either, but it is a great insight into the everyday life in the rugged and frigid arctic communities.

This story was originally written by Pentti in Swedish, and published in the Nanoq Arctic Museums 20-year commemorative publication in 2007 (the Nanoq museum is located in Jakobstad, Finland, and was founded by Pentti).

This story has now been published in English for the first time. Enjoy!

The map was created by nwsisu, based on USGS public maps. Photograps are from the 2007 Nanoq Arctic Museums 20-year commemorative publication.